"In the year 1606 a young Italian Jesuit, Roberto de Nobili, was sent to the city of Madurai in southeast India (today this is in the state of Tamil Nadu). Within two years of arriving in Madurai, de Nobili was employing a strategy for evangelizing high caste Indians that was different than any previous strategy. His methods created a controversy within the Catholic Church, a controversy that finally had to be settled by the Pope. However, the issues raised by de Nobili's strategy continue to be debaithin missions' circles even to this day.
Roberto de Nobili began his career in 1604 as a Jesuit missionary in Goa, a Portuguese colony on the west coast of India. Early in 1606, his Superior Alberto Laerzio sent Roberto to work among the Parvas, a large tribe of outcastes whose occupation was fishing and pearl diving. The Parvas lived along the southeast coast of India. For the most part, the majority of Parvas claimed to be Christians, but many of them simply became Christian in exchange for Portuguese protection from the Muslims who were seeking to invade from the north of India. While among the Parvas, Roberto realized that many of the Parvas who had converted to Christianity had taken Portuguese names. Not only did they have Portuguese names, the converts were expected to adapt Portuguese customs and practices. Soon after beginning work among the Parvas, Roberto was reassigned once again to the city of Madurai.
By the time he arrived in Madurai, India had a total population of 140 million, but only a small number had become Christian. Most of those who had become Christian had come from the tribal peoples and outcaste groups. These peoples, who faced discriminations from the high caste Hindus, were attracted to Christianity. In the city of Madurai, there were only a few hundred Christians all of who had come from the Parva group or who were Portuguese.
Roberto wondered why all the Christian work had focused on the tribal peoples and outcastes. Roberto made friends with a Hindu schoolteacher who helped him understand Indian culture. Roberto discovered that the Tamil-speaking Indians called the Portuguese and those converted to Christianity as "Parangis." The missionaries thought that this word simply meant "Portuguese," however, the word was actually a word that meant unclean and uncultured. The Hindues despised the "Parangis," because they drank wine, ate meat, bathed irregularly, wore leather shoes, and ignored the Indian social customs. The missionaries, because they misunderstood the meaning of the term, were proud to refer to themselves and their converts as "Parangis," However, in doing this the missionaries had created a barrier between themselves and the caste Hindus. Roberto, learning more and more about the Indian caste system from his schoolteacher friend, became convinced that the missionaries would never be able to reach the caste Hindus with the gospel until there was a complete break from Parangi Christianity, that is, the caste Hindus had to see Christians as something other than unclean and polluted before they would be willing to accept the gospel message.
Roberto came up with a plan. He decided that he would deny that he was a "Parangi." He would learn to speak Tamil and onl speak it when among the Hindus. He would avoid touching or even associating with the Portuguese and the outcastes and tribal people who had converted to Christianity. He would bathe daily, learn to sit cross-legged, and call himself a 'sanyasi,' that is, someone who has given up everyting (Sanyasi was a Hindu word to denote someone who was at the last stage of life). Roberto would eat no meat and wear Indian clothing.
The leader of the Jesuit mission in Madurai was opposed to Roberto's ideas. He believed that if Roberto withdrew from contact with the believers who had come from an outcaste background, he would be turning his back on the people who had accepted the gospel. Furthermore, it would mean accepting the prohibitions of the Hindu caste system. Also, if Roberto refused to eat meat or wear leather sandals, while at the same time wearing Indian clothing and referring to himself as a 'sanyasi,' he would essentially be agreeing with superstitions and prejudices that opposed the gospel. There was disagreement between Roberto and this leader, so much so that an appeal was made to their Superior Laerzio to settle the dispute. Initially, Laerzio agreed that Roberto to stop using the name "Parangi" and use the title "sanyasi." However, Laerzio did not respond to the other issues.
Roberto was determined to move forward with his plans. He moved out of the mission compound into a small hut in the center of the Brahmin area of the city. He shaved his head like most of the other Brahmins. He spoke only the Tamil language, became a vegetarian and wore Indian clothes. He referred to himself as a 'sanyasi.' He bathed daily and ritually cleansed himself before saying the mass. In almost every way, Roberto had the appearance of a high caste Hindu. Slowly, a small number of converts were made. Roberto faced two issues. The first issue was whether to try to force the Brahmin converts to worship with the outcaste or lower caste converts. Should he segregate the believers according to caste? Second, should the Brahmin believers have to discard the triple thread and shave off the single braid of hair that marked them as Hindu Brahmins? Roberto decided to form a totally Brahmin church and did not insist on the removal of the thread and the braid of hair, as he insisted these were social issues not religious. By the end of 1609, there were now some sixty converts, none of who were obligated to violate their beliefs on caste or to discard any custom that was not clearly idolatrous. As word came back to Jesuit leaders as to what ROberto was doing, they strongly condemned his methods. The debate between Roberto and Jesuit leaders continued for a number of years. Finally in 1617, the Pope ordered that a conference be held in Goa the following February in which Roberto would be called to give an account of his missionary methods. Twenty theologians and two inquisitors appointed by the Pope were present at this meeting."
~Adapted from Alan Neely's "Christian Mission: A Case Study Approach."~
So as you can imagine, we read this in Intro to Missions class today. It sparked quite the debate. I thought it was interesting.
Two notes: Portuguese Jesuit Priests evangelized to mainly lower caste or peasant peoples and sort of 'ousted' the established higher classes, then forming very Portuguese resembling settlements.
Also, at that time Brahmans were not allowed to even associate with lower castes. So if it was known that Roberto had regular fellowship with the "Parangis" it would have made him 'unclean' and unable to have any contact with the Brahmans he was trying to reach.
So the class discussion was where do you draw the line, when is it Contextualization and when is it synchronizing, is it a Salvation issue or a Sanctification issue?
~Princess Ouch~
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